The art of travelling between Bangalore - Mangalore/Udupi

This is a discussion on The art of travelling between Bangalore - Mangalore/Udupi within Route / Travel Queries, part of the Travelogues category; Originally Posted by speedsatya
Also , can someone please guide me on the best route from Kundapur to Bangalore on ...

In other words, the Charmadi Ghat will be a parking lot for the next 6 months.

I drove back to Bangalore from Mangalore on the 27th via Charmadi. A lot of traffic, very difficult to overtake slow coaches because 10 - 12 vehicles were stacked behind each other and there was a fair bit of opposite traffic. Shudder to think what it will be like now. Kalasa certainly sounds more attractive. The drive via Kudremukh is awesome too.

Tirthahalli to Agumbe road is in good condition, but is 1+1 lane, and you will not be able to overtake even a two-wheeler if there is opposing traffic. There are a couple of nasty places where immediately after a bend there is a diversion, no warning boards whatsoever. O had to panic brake.

Agumbe ghat road surface is really crappy. Fortunately Tirthahalli to Hebri via Agumbe is all downhill in the Agumbe stretch, my side of the road was somewhat better than the other side, and it is a very short ride.

Onward trip, at around 19:00h there was traffic pile up on the ghat.
There wasn't any accident but a truck and a bus were trying to pass on this narrowest stretch of charmadi.

More than a kilometer long on and off standstill traffic was observed, even though the vehicle population wasn't so dense.
I suggest to avoid crossing this stretch during peak hours.
I am sure situation will worsen when Shiradi and Agumbe routes are closed.